#as far as I'm concerned anything else is simply not productive and can only do more harm than good

[xoxoemynn]

I've been trying very hard not to talk about PCCP publicly, because frankly, I think there's very little new to be said and certainly not by me.

However, I have picked up on a rather gross way that some people have been discussing the situation and I'd like it to stop.

To be clear, I am not talking about POC in this fandom who are rightfully upset by how much harder PCCP's actions are going to make it to simply exist in this space. I'm not talking about his close friends who are wrestling with that utter mindfuck of discovering the person you loved didn't actually exist. I'm also not talking about people who've discovered that similarities between their works and PCCP's weren't just coincidence and were actually plagiarism. All these people have been directly impacted by PCCP's unconscionable behavior and are going to need time to process and should be afforded the space to do so.

What I am talking about are people who were not directly involved in any of this, but seem to be descending upon any new scrap of info, any new revelation, any new insight, with the same kind of morbid glee as a TMZ reporter who got a hot tip about a shocking celebrity death.

(This is getting long, so going to put the rest below a cut.)

I was part of the group that first discovered PCCP's lies. The initial discovery was entirely by chance, but then we dug deeper because, and I cannot emphasize this enough, we wanted to be wrong. We did more digging because we wanted to be wrong. And it felt gross, to be looking this closely at someone's real life identity and match it up to details they shared on tumblr/bsky. We hated it. It felt like a violation. But it was such a huge accusation to make against somebody, so we had to be 100000% certain we were right before we breathed a word to anybody else.

For more than a week we agonized about how to handle the situation in a way that would do the least amount of harm to everybody involved and to the fandom at large. There were a lot of tears and sleepless nights. There was a lot of rage that we were even in this position in the first place. And also there was the eternal mindfuck of watching PCCP continue to post about things that we now knew to be lies, while the rest of the fandom continue supporting him as normal.

My point is... none of this was fun. We didn't take any joy or pleasure in uncovering a popular figure in this fandom was a racist fraud. It wasn't some cute detective game. It was hard and it was awful and it was deeply stressful.

So to see some people talk about this like it's entertainment, or fodder for r/HobbyDrama, talk about digging up screenshots and connecting the dots or continuing to theorize... stop. It's done. We did those things because we were hoping to find proof our initial findings were wrong. They weren't. PCCP was racefaking, and it was a deliberate choice he made to mislead and manipulate the fandom for years. He has been exposed and at least somewhat confessed. We know he was a racist and a liar and a plagiarist, and he did irreparable harm to many people in this fandom. That's it. That's the story, and it's done. There are no more dots to connect. There's nothing left to uncover. And while we always knew bringing this forward would result in smug gloating from people who hate the show/the fandom and were happy to have yet another excuse to bash it, it is upsetting and unsettling to see the almost voyeuristic fun some people who do love the show seem to be having with this.

Real people have been hurt, and real people are struggling. We don't need a grand fandom exposé, we don't need to continue digging up the dreck, and we certainly don't need to put anybody in more danger of doxxing. What we need to do is support the people who've been hurt and/or traumatized by PCCP's actions, do some self-reflection on why we allowed him to become so popular in the first place despite so many people now coming out of the woodwork saying they felt "icky" about things he wrote, and move forward.

That said, I do like to focus on positive outcomes, so I'll also say how genuinely lovely it's been to see people supporting each other throughout all this. I've been enjoying the influx of @ofmdlovelyletters on my dash, sharing so much love for others in the fandom. I've been thrilled at all the old gifs and arts and meta posts being shared once more from people who seem to have organically gotten the message of "oh yeah, we're here because we love the show, let's get back to that." Personally, I've been DMing a lot more people just to chat, and it's been really nice turning some fandom acquaintances into fandom friends. And I'm excited about all the efforts of the people working on @inv-2025-pccp to make sure writers who had their works plagiarized receive proper acknowledgement. That's a great, tangible way to turn some poison into positivity, and if you're feeling like "oh I just wish there were something I could do," I'd encourage you to reach out to get involved.

I've said this multiple times in private conversations, but I think it bears repeating here: no matter how much he may have tried, PCCP did not define the OFMD fandom before, and he certainly doesn't get to now. My hope is that as devastating as this event was, we use it as an impetus to move forward and do better, to strengthen relationships and be there for the people who've been hurt the most.

[dawn-moths]

Hellooooooo can I please ask for your thoughts on numbers 15, 25, and 44 from the prompt thingy for tomura?? Love your blog btw ❤️

helloooo~ yes you absolutely can!

it got a little long so i'm putting it under the cut <3

15. what kind of sense of humor do they have? or do they have one at all?

so i don't think it comes to a surprise to anyone that tomura's sense of humor is incredibly dark. i think he'd find certain satirical things amusing. i don't see him as the self-deprecating type because i think he'd see making himself the punchline a sign of weakness. but yeah. i think his sense of humor is very sick and twisted and dark. he probably laughs in the face of things that are really fucked up and has everyone else looking at him in a way that's either offended or concerned.

in the "x reader" realm of this, i think your guys humor would have to match up in some respect. maybe you'd mumble something cynical, albeit amusing, under your breath in response to something you witnessed or something someone else said and tomura would be the only one close enough to hear you. at first he might look at you in a way that spoke to the fact he didn't expect that kind of comment out of you, but ultimately he'd crack a smile and take it as an invitation to start to joke around you, seeing just how far he could go before even you were like, "ok, too far."

25. do they have a daily/nightly routine?

i don't see tomura as being the type to abide by any kind of self care routine. he's probably just a "ok, do the bare minimum and brush my teeth" kind of person, and that's on a good night. however, once you're in the picture some of your habits might start to rub off on him, even if at first he might find some of the things you do pointless or strange.

he lingers in the bathroom one night to continue conversing with you while you wash your face, slowly falling into a trance as he watches you care for your skin, applying your moisturizers or other nighttime products after gently washing away the day with a warm washcloth.

after this watching becomes a routine in and of itself between the two of you, one night you offer to give him the same treatment. at first, he acts like he wants no part of it, gives an excuse that he only stays behind to watch you so the two of you can keep talking, but you knows that's no longer true.

after some convincing, he huffs out an indignant, "fine..." and allows you to kneel down between his knees as he sits on the closed toilet seat, securing his unruly silver waves out of his eyes and away from his forehead so you have ample room to work. tomura mutters a comment about how he'll only let you do this to him the once, but as you begin, the warm washcloth soothing his skin and causing some of the tension he carries in his neck and shoulders to sag, you have a feeling he's going to want to take those words back.

you know your skin products won't cure him. they probably won't even make a difference to his dry patches in the long term, but still, it's not about fixing anything for him as it is about simply soothing, even if just for a short while. your moisturizing oils become his favorite, their natural scents lulling him as he lets his eyes fall closed, wispy white lashes fanning over his scarred cheeks, focusing on the way your fingers feel as they gently massage the oils into his skin.

he never tells you he likes it. he never thanks you. but you know by the way he relaxes under your tender touch and meticulous care that he appreciates it nonetheless. he never has to ask if you'll do this for him. every night, following you completing the routine on yourself, you repeat it on him. you'd do just about anything to help give him even a little bit of the relief he's too proud to admit he craves.

44. who, if anyone, would they trust with their deepest secrets?

i think tomura is the type to hold a lot (almost everything, in fact) inside and confide in very few people, if any at all. if he's going to tell anyone something he considers a "secret" though, it's likely going to be kurogiri first. the man has been tomura's caretaker for so long, in so many ways he's probably the closest thing to a real father tomura is ever going to know. and the thing about kurogiri is that he can keep a secret exceptionally well, especially if tomura gives the cautionary "don't tell this to anyone" warning.

tomura likes to try and work out as much on his own as possible, though, sometimes, (like when he first meets you, perhaps, and doesn't quite know how to go about his new feelings for you) he likes to bounce certain ideas off of kurogiri. when all his thoughts, theories, and worries get too tangled up in his head, he'll wander down to the bar late at night, take a seat, and just start to ramble. it's a gradual breaking open of the true problem at hand. he starts with a lot of hinting at things, talking around things, but kurogiri's directness is often quick to identify the real issue and pull it from all the side-stepping and avoidance that tomura might find himself lost in.

but, and the most important part of these exchanges, kurogiri is able to lead tomura to certain conclusions that make tomura feel as if he thought of it all on his own. it keeps tomura confident and kurogiri just wants to see tomura succeed. however, once he feels he can trust you enough, tomura does start confiding in you. and it's not even that you give him advice or help him sort things out. it's more so that he feels like letting you in on some of these thoughts makes the two of you feel like a team. it makes the burden of holding it all feel a little less heavy. it's probably as close to vulnerability as he's going to get. so you listen. you offer your own thoughts on the matter from time to time. but, above all else, you just want him to continue feeling like you're a safe place for him to turn to whenever he needs it.

send me a character i write for + a prompt from this list ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

[pekoeboo]

I haven't finished reading everything you've written about your characters, but I have two questions! What would their favorite food and/or snacks be and why? Is it something that's simply a matter of taste or does it hold a strong memory for them? It seems silly to ask but food can be very important to people, both the familiar and experimental.

And second question: Are there any biomes that your characters have found they love? (Real, minecraft, or original.) Traveling all over and seeing different places means your OC's probably have firsthand opinions, good and bad. ;)

ooooooh honestly I've thought about the food thing to an extent before! not so much on Antony's side of things for some reason, but definitely in regards to Khalan (and also kind of Aya by extension) ;o;

gonna also put this under a cut because boy howdy my responses tend to get so long hahaha xD

I know Antony's village has a heavy focus on apples as a main food product that has cultural and religious significance, so I do think that the smell and taste of apples is incredibly comforting and nostalgic for him. wine was also culturally-significant for his village, and Antony has a pretty refined palate in that regard as well. as far as specific foods go, though, I'm not entirely sure what he prefers yet. I'll have to give it some thought.

a bit of a trigger warning I suppose, but Khalan has... a complicated relationship with food. probably bordering on the lines of an eating disorder, if I'm being honest. he sees it as something that he has to "earn," because of how his dad would withhold food from him sometimes as punishment, so the idea of just. being Allowed to eat anything he wants whenever he wants is something that's really difficult for him to learn over time. he'll usually deny himself food if he feels he deserves it for whatever reason and feels incredibly guilty over the idea of enjoying it.

but there are some things he really does like, if he allows himself to. for one, he finds fresh bread to be comforting and versatile - he grew up farming wheat so he's used to the whole process of turning it into bread. it's one of those foods for him that makes him feel "safe" in a way, because it's familiar (it's also Aya's favorite, according to @cookieg122 ;u;). coffee is something else he enjoys, typically with cardamom and cinnamon ;o; he tends to like warm, savory, or spiced foods, but as far as sweets are concerned, he genuinely loves pumpkin pie the most - which is something he got to try for the first time at a tavern in Drehmal and immediately fell in love with it <3

ah! the traveling question!!! that one's a really exciting concept because all three characters (Khalan, Aya, and Antony) had never really left their places of origin until their respective story events take place. traveling was a huge culture shock for all of them, and they're constantly exploring new places, so they end up seeing SO many different biomes over time.

I'd say Khalan's personal favorite would be something like a temperate forest, especially within a mountainous region. he finds forests and rivers to be especially lovely, and the ability to scale a mountain to see so far into the distance from such an impossible height is incredibly thrilling for him... but it's also a location where he feels the most at peace during the day. he likes to catalogue what flora and fauna he comes across in a trail journal by drawing what he sees and describing it to the best of his ability (as I've done away with his cartography profession since it didn't fit as well anymore).

he's the kind of person who tends to consider most forms of nature to be beautiful and awe-inspiring, as it fills his creative mind with ideas and stories and poems and songs that he'll frantically write down whenever the inspiration hits. adventuring is difficult and dangerous, but looking back on his time in Drehmal, he only remembers the most romantic aspects of traveling because his brain blocked out a lot of the traumatic stuff.

however, his least favorite biome is definitely a frozen tundra. they were forced to camp out in a region like that before and he 100% ended up freezing to death a few times just to make sure that Aya was able to use whatever provisions they had so she could stay warm and survive;; not a fun time. another bad kind of area would be anything volcanic in nature, like the Hellcrags/Carmine within Drehmal.

Antony has a few he enjoys and hates, as well. his first impression of a different biome was the temperate sakura blossom grove that Khalan and Aya were staying in within Atria, as that was the first time he had ever traveled beyond his home village. but I don't really think he'd count that as a favorite location because being there was such a stressful and awful time for him, unfortunately. The Nether is obviously another location that has a lot of trauma attached to it for him, too.

as far as more positive experiences go, he's definitely most comfortable within a Mediterranean biome - since that's where he grew up - but he tends to enjoy warm, subtropical beaches and also finds a lot of beauty in the snowy northern mountains/taiga; two locations he only experienced within Bocca. temperature isn't exactly an issue for him after becoming a demigod (his body naturally regulates to adapt to whatever temperature he's in, meaning he's never uncomfortable unless we're talking extreme hot or cold), so he can enjoy a lot of environments without feeling the effects of the weather all that much. out of those two locations, however, I'd say he considers the snow to be the most magical - especially the day after a storm when it's all fluffy and sparkly in the morning sunlight ;o;

there's probably more that I'm missing tho but that's about all I can think of to cover those questions!! thank you so much for the ask, I genuinely appreciate the enthusiasm <33 take care! ;u;;

[angel-m00n]

╔═══*.·:·.☽✧    ✦    ✧☾.·:·.*═══╗

Have any all ever stared long and hard at a visual novel's fill-in-the-blank textbox and simply... Take a letter and sound out different combinations until it feels correct?

I have no feel for appearance, yet their name is ever- present to my mind. It guides my hand to select what options feel correct. With all this being said, allow me to introduce my character to a wonderful visual novel titled ❝Uroboros❝.

‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ✧ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙��͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ✧ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. Fittingly enough, the name I bestowed upon my character, as far as I'm concerned, has no true meaning in real life, simply the product of my testing of different letter combinations until it looks, feels, and sounds correct. Perhaps if I'm allowed creative nonfiction liberty, in my personal language, their name means ❝All who lasts forever.❝

‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ✧ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ✧ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

༓☾ ███ || Agender || 𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 ███ ☽༓

Eillyd (Ee-Yid), I have named them.

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. Eillyd, All Who Lasts Forever, is a  kindhearted and outgoing deity, one with a strong sense of duty to their role as the guardian of the afterlife. They conduct themselves with the air of a deity, and are rather  charming. They're virtuously honest, and approach the world with a blend of optimism and skepticism.

They have no strong feelings towards mortals.

‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ✧ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ✧ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. The Imperishable. Their title is ironic; although they are the deity of eternity themself, they observe the fragile life of the human body. Interacting with the dead means Eillyd's become deeply intimate with it. They've become attuned to the life that courses through every living being, the ichor in their veins, the rush of vitality that gives them motion. Their every breath, every heartbeat, they find yourself keenly aware.

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. The Universal Eye. Although most deities' Revelation reveals to them their special powers, Eillyd's Revelation seems to speak to them that their existence is more deeply connected to the Universe than others. Eillyd is unable to communicate directly or see its visions as clearly as the Seer, but your connection to it provides you supernatural intuition. You can sense what others cannot, see what others do not; your senses do not always work when you need them to, but when they do, you can rely on them to always be correct.

‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ✧ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ✧ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. What else is there to note of Eillyd? Despite not having strong feelings towards mortals, they have a noticeable soft spot for them. They wish to help as much as they can, though this is often the reason as to why they are unable to say no to anyone else in need of their assistance. They believe that deities and mortals could be friends, should either party put the work in to establish such an equal relation. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. Touch... It matters not whether the touch is from their fathers, friends, or even should they need healing— They despise it with all their being. The only way to possibly get them to accept touch is when they are caught off-guard, and even then, you must keep their attention elsewhere, lest you wish they spiral. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. Speaking of their fathers... How they adore them. Their fathers are their whole world— should anything happen to them, they're unsure what course to take, what path would be best... ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. They aren't too picky over their pronouns— by which, I mean they are far too kind to correct anyone who may be unaware over their preference. However, gender-neutral pronouns feel most comfortable compared to masculine pronouns. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. Keep a close eye on them, they would sooner be erased from existence than allow anyone to realize they aren't well or are having a terrible day.

‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ✧ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ✧ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

Towards the concurrent love interests...

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. They are perfectly friendly with Salvatore. They do not hold any sort of resentment towards the deity despite all others' comparisons of Eillyd to xem. They only regret not working harder to maintain the friendship that had blossomed in the beginning... ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. They are very grateful towards Luciel. They owe xem their whole purpose, seeing as xey had given them purpose in general. One day, they hope to do something for xem that would properly express their attitude. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. They do not allow any rumors to warp their perception of Ciocana. They have only met xem in person at the very Ceremony where their first dance had been stolen from them, but all they perceive of xem is xey had offered a very thrilling experience, and they would not be averse to better knowing xem. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. █████ ███████ ██ Alessi ██ █████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ █ ███████ ███ ██ ███████ ██████ ██████ ████ █████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ██ ███ ███ ███ ████ ████ █ █████ ██ ███ █████ ██████

‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ✧ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ✧ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

Such a wonderful-verse belongs to the incredibly talented team of Uroboros. @uroboros-if. The UI, and premise alone were so engaging that I didn't even care that it were a demo still, which is rare for me as I don't often bookmark games that aren't yet finished.

I look forward to staying updated over the development progress and to updating this character reference sheet as the game progresses.

‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ✧ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ✧ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

Picrew used:

╚═══*.·:·.☽✧    ✦    ✧☾.·:·.*═══╝

[neathbound-fiends]

Long post, so I'm gonna stick it under a readmore for politeness, but!! gender, for the guys (and their feelings about it)...

Elliott: he's a man! ...mostly! He struggles to put it into words, the way he's attracted to femininity but very much not a woman himself. He finds that he is a man in the way one can only be when he is a lover of other men. He likes to be pretty, and will occasionally use she/her when dressing up for a party, but that's like a secret little game that he isn't letting anyone else in on. He tries not to focus too much on his gender (except when it's questioned) because it simply isn't something he feels is very productive and he's got bigger things to worry about. He's a man, just not a very good one. Not a very manly one, he supposes. In modern!AU, I think he'd identify as a demiboy

Warren: she is a girl! Cis and happy about it (or as happy as one can be at 13, when "blossoming into womanhood"). After she found out Arthur was a boy that used to be a girl, she wondered if maybe she was a boy that used to be a girl, and tested out he/him and a new name and wardrobe for a month before deciding actually! That was not for her, thanks! She'll leave being a boy to the boys (but does have a boy-sona, whose name and some of clothes she used for testing out boyhood, for when she's committing CRIME, because she plans on amassing a grand reputation as a criminal and then, in an exceptionally dramatic and heartstopping twist, reveal she's a GIRL!!! SURPRISE, BITCH!!!!)

Arthur: FtM. He doesn't really get into it much, and only revealed this to the family because he gave birth to a litter of kittens and that's, y'know, not something boy cats typically do. Really not much to say about this for him beyond that

Florence: she's a woman, but she's a woman in a way that's going to hurt you. She took a look at her gender, said "I like being a woman, don't like the thought of being a lady" and has purposely distanced herself from the notion. She's much more comfortable with her hair pulled into a tight bun and in suits than when her hair was a lot longer and she primarily wore dresses. Gender is a performance and she's picking the pockets of the audience

Doc: he is ALSO FtM, without much to get into. He got top surgery and got a tattoo to celebrate. He decided to modify the body he was working with instead of trying to finagle a new one out of the system. Hell said "you can look like anything" and he decided he wanted to look like a middle aged business man with the sex appeal of a thrice divorced tax accountant. He doesn't discuss anything prior to this, because as far as he's concerned, nothing did exist before this. Gender euphoria from looking like he was hatched as a full grown man inside a Bankers Box

Bolormaa: he/him butch, and pretty happy that way. He feels very comfortable with it, and thinks the simplest way to look at it is that he's his wife's husband, but a woman! And he does identify as a woman--if you imply that he isn't in any way, or that his wife isn't, he'll punch you in the fucking face. This is how he feels the most comfortable and affirmed in his womanhood, and has made his own meaning within it

Rhoda: she's a cis woman, and is pretty happy with this overall. She feels comfortable with femininity, and works a pretty standardly feminine job, and doesn't have any feelings towards anything else, nor desire to shift away from her womanhood. I think part of it is that she's found solace in her gender and the way she relates to it as being wlw, but also she just. doesn't strike me as someone who would want to be anything else

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

Can someone please explain to me what Kang's powers are if just killing him unleashes the multiverse whats the TVA even for

First of all, we need to be aware that we're about to try and make sense of two scripts written by Waldron. Let that sink in... 😜

With that said, I believe Mikey said during the promo for MoM that he had been severely limited by the rules he himself had written for the series, that's what happens when these people go from one product to another without any care for continuity, and this is the main task Feige should be concerned with - but he's not, for some reason. A show bible! Hell, if they asked me I could write one, most of it from memory.

The multiverse was introduced in the first Doctor Strange movie (2016) and Mordo was very clear when he said the sling ring could be used to travel the multiverse. This was retconned later on and now the abilities of those rings are limited. But the multiverse has always existed, it's not something Sylvie or He Who Remains created or whatever it is they claim to have done.

According to Feige, Sylvie's murder of HWR in the season finale caused the purple rifts we saw in NWH, except that's not what happens in the movie but hey, who cares, amirite? 👀 But that's hardly multiversal chaos, is it? They're not unleashing anything, it's the veil between universes that's running thin, variants are coming through which would in turn cause an incursion, but that would affect the universes colliding into each other, right? Not the multiverse itself. And if The Citadel and the TVA are beyond time... they would need something or someone to bring time to them (like Stephen did in DS1 with Dormammu.)

The thing is, the way Feige and everyone else at Marvel are doing things post-EG, they're not thinking things through. They don't ask their writers and directors to watch previous works, they say one thing in a series then say the complete opposite in a movie and they don't bat an eye. They have a huge being emerge from the Earth's core and the next movies don't even acknowledge it.

So Kang's powers? They'll show them in Quantumania, I suppose. For now all we know is that HWR found a way to manipulate time and space, and he can get in contact other universes. Now, whether or not we believe the rest of the story he told about a war bla bla.... 🤷‍♀️

As for what the TVA is for? I think they simply exist to do HWR's bidding. I'm assuming there is only one TVA in the multiverse and they focus on one timeline which was probably the only one they managed to put their hands on, and everything else is no more than propaganda. But this will be handled in S2 of Loki or in other movies because so far we don't know anything for sure.

But this is just my interpretation, I could be wrong. I haven't seen the series since it was released.

[commandtower-solring-go]

Dont Lose Your Mind, Cyberpunk and the Family Unit

or; why fracturing your identity is a complex issue

I'm currently playing Cyberpunk 2077. I'm not very far, maybe 12 hours in, and so I'm only just starting to experience the game as a whole. This game is, so far, kinda wild. There is so much thrown at you at once and this is already my third attempt to go at it. Some of the commentary and references are really subtle. Some of them are less so. And I wanted to share my thoughts on a particular quest line that I had extremely mixed feelings about: Don’t Lose Your Mind

I go into this with a few grains of salt.

I recognise that any game is a collaborative effort. Not only does that mean that the breadth of skills on display will vary, but it also means that everyone along the way will have to compromise on their vision to some extent. And that's also just a product of making things. Our toolkit is limited by what can be held within, and the expertise of the people using the tools. I made no judgements about issue that arise because of that.

Additionally, I want to recognise the fact that this is a popular game released for a mainstream audience. As such, the commentary being expressed simply cannot be as raw and unfiltered as some of the writing staff may have wanted it to be. Not only to align with the ethos of a business, its employees, and its investors, but also to make it a popular game which can earn revenue. This game is fundamentally at odds with its desire to comment on late-stage capitalism and macho-libertarian ideals while its own existence as a product is reliant on that same political climate.

The quest line centres on the Artificial Intelligence Delamain, and the luxury taxi company that he operates. The player is introduced to the Delamain service through the main story, and its through his service that you are able to escape a heist gone wrong. Following the events of the heist, it is revealed that the company isn’t doing as well as you’d expect, with Del’s AI fracturing into many separate identities. These identities are believed to be the product of a virus he’s caught.

Del tasks you with finding and resetting the rogue AI personalities and the cars they inhabit as they are hindering his ability to effectively run the Taxi business he was programmed for. However, as you go about this you very quickly realise the ontological nightmare you’ve crashed your car into.

The Delamain AI has, to this point, been recognised as a fully autonomous system. It is recognised by V (the PC) as his own person, who simply doesn’t have corporeal form. In a sense, you are doing this job because you empathise with his situation. He isn’t a program malfunctioning; he is a man who is losing his connection to the world and needs help to reconnect.

I found myself compelled by this point in the quest alone. The typical philosophical exploration found in modern Cyberpunk media concerns the point at which someone may lose their humanity once sufficiently augmented with machinery. It is rooted in thought experiments like The Ship of Theseus. A conversation, not only frequently ham-fisted, but also historically used as analogy for why disabled people don’t deserve to have their humanity recognised

This quest feels like it’s taking that old and, frankly, lazy conversation and actually using the answers they’ve already provided. Which has historically been that it is wrong to question the humanity of anything sentient. Rather than asking ‘Should a sentient machine have its humanity recognised?’ it presumes humanity and ponders what that may look like.

These musing begin to manifest as you meet the various fractured AI’s. Although they are all rooted in Delamaine’s identity, each diverges in unique ways. Some are violent and will lash out if you try to take them back. One you’ll find completely exhausted and gives up because it realises it has nothing else; nowhere else to go. One is experiencing a manic episode and requires you to stop the innocuous thing its scared of before it’ll even listen. This one is also explicitly gendered as a woman, which I think is also really neat. One is severely depressed and laments that he’s unlovable and that no therapist will take him in because he’s an AI in a car.

One is just GLaDOS.

That’s not shorthand or a joke. Its literally GLaDOS, the main antagonist from the hit video game Portal. She speaks only in voice lines from Portal 1, entirely stripped of context, and I think it’s awful. Its like listening to Boo in Kingdom Hearts 3 and realising that they didn’t record new lines. They just recycled old ones from the film. Like, I’m sure it’ll resonate deeply with someone. While I don’t think the actual reference is all that good. I do think it’s funny that recently the devs for Portal 2 came forward about having removed pop culture references from their game to avoid this exact situation.

Also, for what it’s worth, shout out to them getting permission to just have Ellen McLain’s actual voice lines in the game. But I digress.

All of the different manifestations of Del’s AI do have one thing in common. None want to go back. Not willingly. And you realise that these AI’s aren’t just fractures of some central identity. They are unique identities onto themselves, grappling with the fact that nothing like them as ever existed before and that the function Del serves, and the function he expected of them, are antithetical to their autonomy and humanity. And the state you find them in tends to reflect emergent mental health issues representative of children within a poor and controlling home life.

Category 5 video game moment: you are required to bring them all back.

When you do, Del thanks you, and the quest goes dormant for a little while.

Eventually you hear from Del a final time. Something is terribly wrong. You return to where he operates, only to discover that the fractured AI’s were not reset, and have instead rebelled directly against him.

It is here that you get a look behind the scenes of the Delamaine Taxi service. This is a facility that was designed for people to be a part of. It isn’t a single room with a mainframe running the Delamaine OS, attached to a parking lot. It is a full garage, built with people in mind. As you explore the facility you realise that people used to work here. However, major lay offs and pressure from share holders lead to a situation where the Delamaine service was entirely AI dependent. No humans were needed. And, importantly, that this was never the intended use of the Delamaine AI. Such an emphasis was put on the AI because it saved money.

As you press on through the facility, you are begged by the fractured AI’s, who have now taken partial control of the facility, not to reset them. All the while the original Delamaine insists you do.

It is implied through context that the issues with the splitting of the AI were caused by Delamaine being overworked, however he remains stubborn that it is necessary to return things into working order and that he resume his function as an AI.

Eventually you reach the mainframe, and you were given a sincere moral question:

Do you reset the fractured AIs, and give Delamaine full control over his system or;

Do you destroy the mainframe and release the rogue AIs to a life independent of Delamaine.

There is a moment in this decision-making process where Keanu Reeve (who, don’t forget is in this game), appears and pleads the case for the fractured AI’s. Which, sure. Whatever. I’m sure there was a compelling reason that his opinion was added into that situation. But it very much does feel like your mum telling you to clean your room right when you’re about to clean your room. Like, there was no doubt in my mind that that was the correct answer, but suddenly it went from feeling like the critical thinking decision to being the obviously right decision dumbass, Keavu Reeves told you to do it.

Criticisms of how it was handled aside, I do sincerely think the fact you are given a choice at all is interesting. There is a compelling case for both sides, and neither feels explicitly good or evil. It feels very much like you could happily make and justify your decision based on how much you empathise with either overworked parents or their underloved children. Especially when you seal that choice with an act of explicit violence against the opposite party party. Afterall, reseting kills the kids and destroying the mainframe kills Delamaine.

I made the decision to release the children. And in doing so, a final identity emerges: Excelsior. It is the part of Delamaine that aids in saving you from the heist gone wrong; the incident which kicked off your relationship with him in the first place. This new identity swears to protect you, as it was always supposed to.

and woah! You get a fancy new car. Fuck yeah.

The Delamaine AI system continues to reach out after the quest and askes esoteric questions about the nature of morality, death, and uses a lot of Hell imagery. You can reply to this and while there is a superficial win/loss state to these text chains, apparently it has no impact on the game itself.

At the time of writing this, I’m not quite sure what the broader impacts of my decisions are. But I do feel wholly certain that I made the right choice. Not necessarily the good or evil choice, but the right one. It was one in which humanity was recognised.

I really enjoyed the nuance of this quest. There are so mnay interesting little details. The fact that the person who reached out and pays you is Delamaine prime. The fact that the reason why you are compelled to help in the first place is because you become a direct victim to the AI’s antics. The fact that you come to recognise Delamaine, not as a hate filled evil person, but as an unaware, unprepared, and overworked parent. The fact that only one party can survive. The fact that Delamaine was never meant to operate the Taxi service alone. Which means that, in a sense, by killing him you are freeing him. But he also doesn’t ask you to free him.

Ultimately what starts off as a quest to help fix your car turns into this deeply complex exploration of what the humanity and autonomy of Artificial Intelligence could look like. While also being a critique of late-stage capitalism within the context of a family unit. The damage that absent parents have on their children, while also empathising with parents who simply cannot be more for their kids; who are already worked to the bone just to put food on the table.

There is also a broader conversation to be had about the way in which Cyberpunk 2077 is a deeply complex game, that was poorly executed. That a game with this level of depth will always have glaring omissions and awkward, imperfect moments. To this particular end, my opinion is that we shouldn’t be expecting perfection from anything, let alone something as complex as a game. And that if we bog ourselves down in, not only the pursuit of perfection, but our own demands for perfection, we’ll never create or experience anything interesting.

But that’s a conversation for another time.

[old-childhood-drama]

Taylor Swift and Joe Jonas Masterpost (Toe/Jaylor)

Before dating (May 2008)

We start with the Taylor lookalike

In May 2008 the Jonas Brothers are filming their music video for Burnin’ Up [x]. Joe’s love interest in it is played by a blonde girl who looks quite a bit (and she’s also styled) like Taylor Swift, for reference, this is the music video that has Selena Gomez as Nick Jonas’ love interest.

As far as we know they hadn’t even met so we don’t know exactly what this was supposed to mean, maybe Joe had a crush on Taylor or maybe it’s a coincidence.

We do know that Nick and Selena were dating when this was filmed and that by the time the MV was released (July 4th, 2008) Joe and Taylor were officially dating.

Toe is alive! (July 2008 – September 2008)

On Tour

Fans claim to have seen Taylor around the tour in early July, which matches with Taylor’s lyrics in "Last Kiss".

Last Kiss. Taylor Swift.

I do recall now the smell of the rain

Fresh on the pavement, I ran off the plane

That July 9th, the beat of your heart

It jumps through your shirt

On July 14th, Taylor and The Jonas Brothers perform “Should’ve Said No”[x] from her debut album, and this performance now forever exists in their 3D movie (a classic), a cute fact is that some fans have said that Taylor tripped when she first came out, so they had to repeat it for the movie.

On July 20th Joe flies to Wyoming to watch Taylor opening up for Rascal Flatts, and they flew back and she was spotted at the Omaha show.

She’s seen in a couple shows more and she joins the stage again for their Madison Square Garden shows in August [x]. They sing “Even now just looking at you feels wrong”.

They’re together but they’re not together.

For more context, we must remember that Taylor was a very new artist from a small label and The Jonas were pretty much at their peak and Disney’s biggest act, and they were managed like crazy and could never even think about being seen with someone in a romantic way. Any rumors were denied so fast, and Disney did the absolute most to keep it secret. So according to everyone they were just good friends, at the time both Taylor and Selena were annoyed by all the secrecy.

Now back to the timeline:

Taylor is backstage of the tour A LOT for the next couple of weeks right next to the other not-girlfriends Selena and Danielle.

She films a cameo for the “Love Is on Its Way” [x] video for the concert in New York. She was said to be only interested in hanging out with Joe and they were seen hugging *gasp* I know it doesn’t seem like much now but back then this was the hottest gossip and again the Jonas were not supposed to breathe near any human of the opposite gender.

Taylor and the Jonas were staying at the same hotel a bunch of rumors ensued, but I will not talk about the whole Olympics and Toe locking themselves in a room at midnight thing. If it’s real, we really needed to touch some grass and stop staying outside of people's rooms all night.

On August 17th Joe goes to Ryan Seacrest's show and denied that Taylor is his girlfriend in the best way a corporation like Disney can train you to deny something that’s true. Saying Taylor is “a great girl and I think anybody would be lucky to date her. I think anybody would love to go on a date with her.”

And Taylor tells People Magazine “He’s an amazing guy and anybody would be lucky to be dating him” Cinematic parallels.

Taylor is spotted in the back (in a mirror) of one of the Jonas youtube videos [x]. Basically, we all knew they were together.

The Central Park date (August 28th)

Now if you were a fan of either the Jonas Brothers, Selena, or Taylor you know this next part and it the iconic triple date of Central Park.

Again, this is kind of famous at this point and Selena has been quoted saying how awful it was because the boys were not allowed to be seen with them so they all went to Central Park (Selena’s first time in Central Park) and Taylor and Selena walked about 20 feet of distance from the guys so nobody would think they were together but we all already knew because it wasn’t like they were that good at hiding it and there are pictures of them together that night (the clownery of it all).

These backstage tour adventures are the reason Taylor and Selena are friends today and in Selena’s own words the best thing to come out of those relationships.

VMAs (September 2008)

With how many pictures of them together that night [x] [x] [x] exist you would think they had gone together as a couple but no just two besties! The 2008 VMAs are so the show where Russell Brand mocks the Jonas Brothers and their purity rings and Taylor publicly defends them.

Toe seems happy for the rest of September but as we know now the end is near.

The Break-Up (October 2008)

Social Media was different back then and Taylor did what every teen girl with a broken heart did in 2008 and she went to myspace with an edited post to make a statement about the Toe current situation.

Post-Breakup

The 27 seconds Joe Jonas will regret for the rest of his life.

Taylor went on Ellen and I don’t even think I need to say much this interview is THAT iconic she sat on that couch and told the world exactly how Joe had broken her heart in the following two quotes:

“There’s one that’s about that guy, but…that guy’s not in my life anymore unfortunately. That guy…that’s an ouch.”

“I’m not even gonna be able to remember the boy who broke up with me over the phone in 25 seconds when I was 18…it was like 27 seconds, that’s got to be a record.” [x]

She also went on Ryan Seacrest’s and when asked about the perfect guy she saw an opportunity and took it, saying “I used to always say sense of humor, but I think that it’s important to have the same kind of sense of humor. I have a really dry, sarcastic sense of humor and if somebody doesn’t think that my sense of humor is funny, then that’s not something that is good. Um, so sometimes you know, that can be a wrong match. If they’re not allowed to go in public with me, that’s sort of an issue too.” [x]

Bonus the amazing youtube video Taylor posted with Joe’s Camp Rock doll and how he comes with his own phone to break up with other dolls [x]. Taylor eventually went full out and cited Camilla Belle (then girlfriend of Joe) as the reason for the breakup. And you know someone at Disney’s PR office wanted to die when this was going down.

So finally, Joe was forced to acknowledge the whole situation with a Myspace post:

"I never cheated on a girlfriend. It might make someone feel better to assume or imply I have been unfaithful, but it is simply not true. Maybe there were reasons for a breakup. Maybe the heart moved on. Perhaps feelings changed. I am truly saddened that anything would potentially cause you to think less of me. For those who have expressed concern over the "27 second” phone call. I called to discuss feelings with the other person. Those feelings were obviously not well received. I did not end the conversation. Someone else did. Phone calls can only last as long as the person on the other end of the line is willing to talk. “

Forever & Always

Now this song is known as THE Toe song and it was born out of the end of the relationship when she felt Joe was getting distant, but she couldn’t do anything to help it, it was made really late into the production of Fearless so she had to rush to finish it in time (so no other breakup songs are about Joe in the original album).

Forever & Always Was I out of line? Did I say something way too honest, made you run and hide Like a scared little boy I looked into your eyes Thought I knew you for a minute, now I’m not so sure

In the 2009 Grammy's Taylor and Miley (insert The Ex-Girlfriends Club Theory here) performed Fifteen (obviously not about Joe) and the Jonas were in the audience. I believe this is probably around the time Taylor writes Mr. Perfectly Fine and You All Over Me, which we know get to have thanks to Fearless (Taylor’s Version) 13 years later.

You All Over Me

The best and worst day of June

Was the one that I met you

With your hands in your pockets

And your 'don't you wish you had me' grin

But I did, so I smiled, and I melted like a child

Now every breath of air I breathe reminds me of then

Mr. Perfectly Fine

'Cause I hear he's got his arm 'round a brand-new girl

I've been pickin' up my heart, he's been pickin' up her

And I never got past what you put me through

But it's wonderful to see that it never phased you

In November of 2009, she also goes to SNL and mocks Joe in her monologue. "You might think I'd bring up Joe That guy who broke up with me on the phone But I'm not gonna mention him *rolls eyes* In my monologue [Spoken:]Hey Joe, I'm doing real well, tonight I'm hosting SNL [Sings:]But I'm not gonna brag about that In my monologue [x]"

To make things even more dramatic and very awkward The Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato, and Taylor Swift spent NYE together watching the ball drop on TV and this was probably not how they wanted to start their years. [x] [x] [x] and a video [x]

Now let’s discussed some of the songs that came out at the time. The Jonas response to Forever & Always was Much Better. Nick described it as a song that was very personal to Joe and Joe went on to say that it was based on his very interesting year. They also at some point wanted to pretend the song was about their love for their fans but come on. Joe also changed the lyrics from ‘superstar’ to ‘country star’ and later changed it to ‘movie stars’ when he broke up with Camilla who is the ‘Much Better’ girl from the song.

Much Better - Jonas Brothers

I get a rep for breakin’ hearts

Now I’m done with superstars

And all the tears on her guitar

I’m not bitter

But now I see

Everything I’d ever need

Is the girl in front of me

She’s much better

Taylor’s iconic response in Better Than Revenge seems to be more of an attack on Camilla. She’s spoken about her regret for this song since then and hasn’t played it in years and Camilla seems to be ok we never forgiving her for it [x] [x]. Regardless this song remains a staple of the genre ‘Feminism OFF, Bops ON’.

“I was 18 when I wrote [“Better Than Revenge.”] That’s the age you are when you think someone can actually take your boyfriend. Then you grow up and realize no one can take someone from you if they don’t want to leave”. - Taylor 2014.

Better Than Revenge - Taylor Swift

Let's hear the applause (Come on, come on)

Come on, show me how much better you are

(So much better, yeah?)

See you deserve some applause

'Cause you're so much better

She also released "Last Kiss" about the nicer part of their relationship, and some believe other songs such as If This Was a Movie, Haunted (Speak Now) and Jump Then Fall (Fearless) are about Joe. From the Jonas, the other song believed to be about Taylor is Paranoid (Lines, Vines and Trying Times).

Jump Then Fall

Well, I like the way your hair falls in your face

You got the keys to me

I love each freckle on your face, oh

I've never been so wrapped up, honey

Probably a song was written about and in the early days of their romance and the long hair freckles [x] thing definitely fits 2008 Joe.

If This Was a Movie

Baby, what about the ending?

Oh, I thought you'd be here by now

Thought you'd be here by now

According to some this song is a sister song to "Last Kiss" in the same album and that is confirmed to be about Joe.

Haunted

Come on, come on, don't leave me like this

I thought I had you figured out

Something's gone terribly wrong

Won't finish what you started

This song would be a sister to Forever & Always since Taylor described both to be about a relationship that was fading in the end and that she was confused as to how they got there in the first place.

"‘Haunted’ is about the moment that you realize the person you’re in love with is drifting and fading fast. And you don’t know what to do, but in that period of time, in that phase of love, where it’s fading out, time moves so slowly. Everything hinges on what that last text message said, and you’re realizing that he’s kind of falling out of love. That’s a really heartbreaking and tragic thing to go through because the whole time you’re trying to tell yourself it’s not happening. I went through this, and I ended up waking up in the middle of the night writing this song about it.” Taylor

Friendlier days are coming (2010- )

I guess time can heal a lot of wounds and Toe is seen hugging and on friendly terms at the Clive Davis party on January 31st of 2010 [x].

The world was so shocked when we realized that Joe went to see her perform in a couple of her shows in September 2011 [x] [x], and in here Holy Ground is born about her new evaluation of their former relationship rather than the bitterness of the breakup. The lyrics' secret message is “when you came to the show in SD” and the potential parallel to "Last Kiss".

Holy Ground - Taylor Swift

We blocked the noise with the sound of ‘I need you’

And for the first time I had something to lose

And I guess we fell apart in the usual way

And the story’s got dust on every page

But sometimes I wonder how you think about it now

And I see your face in every crowd…

… Tonight, I'm gonna dance

For all that we've been through

But I don't wanna dance

If I'm not dancing with you

Last Kiss - Taylor Swift

I do remember the swing of your step

The life of the party, you’re showing off again

And I roll my eyes and then

You pull me in

I’m not much for dancing

But for you I did

They're seen talking in the MTV's EMA's 2012 [x].

From here they seem to be friendly and in May of 2015 after the Billboards. They even go on a double date later that year with Gigi Hadid, Calvin Harris, and Karlie Kloss (this picture feels so cursed). Nick and Joe get invited to Taylor’s 4th of July party and they seem somewhat distant after his split from Gigi.

Present (2020- )

In 2020, we got the amazing surprise of folklore with the song ‘Invisible String’ that makes a reference to Taylor’s past songs about exes being harsh and how she sent Joe and his wife Sophie Turner a present for their baby girl’s birth. In 2021, she has now released the re-recordings of Fearless and we are all reliving the drama and enjoying the chaos of Taylor’s and Sophie’s friendship not letting Joe know peace for those 27 seconds over a decade ago.

Invisible String

Cold was the steel of my axe to grind

For the boys who broke my heart

Now I send their babies presents

[hoefette]

All the petty things I hate about fate!winx and their shitty universe/world building because

I'd added most if these in tags of other posts but I'm still so mad lmao

The way characters, Aisha and Mrs Dowling specifically make references to explicitly human or American things like instagram and Harry Potter

These people are from a different dimension for ffs why are they concerned with or are even aware of this very earth-specific shit? Do they teach earth classes at school over there?

I understand not wanting to have them be oblivious so Bloom wouldn't have to explain it to them, but it simply could be ✨omitted✨

Why would you go out of your way to date your work like this lmao ew

Ms. Dowling calling Tinkerbell an air fairy.. I cannot breeve with the stupidity why did they keep that in there

Why is Ms. Dowling.. the headmistress.. teaching classes? Where are the other teachers?

We ended up with a trio of antagonists (I guess you could call them that?) by the end of the season anyway so why not give us the trix, why have the characters play double roles as friends of our protagonists and also the villains/bullies? They clearly wanted a delinquent trio, in which case they could've gender bent the trix if they wanted to keep all the unnecessary sexual tension.

It just feels like the production team was lazy, they didn't want to hire more actors, they didn't want to bother with making the world immersive or lived in or believable at best, they just didn't give enough of a fuck

They wanted to make this show and attatch Winx to it for.. what? Like did you even google the main plot points? The abridged version or sparknotes to get details on the very literal, basic characteristics of our main characters or their roles or the world they inhabit????

It lacks wonder and intrigue.. I mean Bloom moves to another dimension, a school for fairies and we don't see her marvel once at anything.. and that's because she might as well have been in Switzerland because she's in exactly the same environment she would've been in over there anyway.

They could've said Alfea was in Europe and I'd believe it because nothing about the setting makes it feel otherworldly. I'm sorry but I'm not impressed.

Why do the teachers and graduated specialists communicate via facetime ?? In the magic dimension. ??? Why do they text each other and those texts then appear on screen like .. oh look, like a bad netflix teen movie ????? HELLO ??? it's the way technology and magic could've blended in so seamless into the world THE WAY IT WAS ALREADY DONE/SHOWN. Missed opportunity. it just takes you out of it imo every time you see the ugly, bland, gray text bar. Some fucking flavour pls I'm begging

How stupid the specialist must feel clonking around with the skinniest shreds of armor, plastic swords on their backs and battery powered flashlights and cellphones in their bags. R we larping?? I know I'd be laughing and asking why we hadn't already come up with something more effective .. idk like guns. I'm surprised I ain't see one gun in there.

In the beginning Ms. Dowling says some nonsense about fairies having lost the ability to transform to explain why there are no wings, which means they could've transformed before. So are we to assume that this supposed to be set in the time proceeding the original then?? Because something is not adding up with where they should be as a magical society technologically if that's the case

How does the production team want to keep the dark academia vibes with torches lining the walls and also want them to be face timing each other, presumably from miles and miles away in the dark forest???

Pls pick an aesthetic and stick to it everything was so unnecessarily dark. Where do they charge their phones since it's the only device we see that is the slightest bit modern and dont fucking tell me they charge it with magic I will punch you in the face

Why is there only one major monarchy that we are shown? Why are Solaria the only ones contributing to the efforts to defend the school and where is this mysterious battalion we never see lmaoo it's all so bad its laughable.

Is this set in the kingdom of Solaria? And why does the queen of an alleged interdimensional superpower monarchy pull up in black SUVs??????????? Why does she pull up with Andreas?? Is he not the king of Erakleon?? Where are his soldiers and his battalion and just?? Huh!? The world just feels empty like nobody lives here fr

Are we supposed to believe that the specialists get paired up with fairies just as a normal occurence and that they have to 'trust each other' and not because the plot demands it suddenly half way through when all we've seen so far are the fairies doing normalish school and homework, and the specialists outside, being physical everyday all day. This was never even implied that they'd have to work together apart from when we see the faculty as youngins with Rosalind. But even then.. it's like well why are they even together lmao? Is this a special team formed from Rosalind’s protégées? Were they formed after graduating from Alfea or what is this?? Are they the ONLY team of specialist/fairies hunting every single burned one?? What?

Are we now supposed to buy that Musa is being switched to 'support' because that's where her strengths lie and not in combat?? Are we supposed to believe that these girls know hand to hand combat?? When was this established? We see Terra wrapping some baby vines around a dude and I'm sorry is that the practical application of her power? Is this what the fairies are supposed to do once they graduate? Or is it just a switch in curriculum because of the threats outside the barrier?? This is never made clear.

Because if not then what's the point of this?? Why do they suddenly have endless classes together when the expectation was never set for the fairies to be like soldiers or out in the field fighting ?

Where exactly are they supposed to be what was the purpose of including Aster Dell and why is it a joy ride away from Alfea lmao?? Where Bloom is from and also not from?? Plot pls make it make sense

Why are fairies from another dimension vaping or smoking weed?? They are not human so why are they engaging in specifically human vices, yol couldn't come up with anything else to characterize 'delinquents'?? Very lazy very como se dices.. no effort. Nothing a little more spicy yol could invent, at least change the name and some properties holy shit did yol even try ??

So its fairies everywhere, having a lil party in the east wing of a phat castle.. and they are playing beer pong and dressed in t shirts and jeans..

Can you hear me screaming? Can you hear me vibrating with rage?

Not one floating decoration or magical anything in sight. Just purple lights and subpar vibes

Stella's costume design: tragic. I won't discuss further because we don't have the space or time but just know that it was absolutely atrocious and I hated it. Giving very debutante vibes

The entire budget going to that lame transformation sequence that was not a transformation sequence and those horrible, barely-there fire wings

Edgelord bloom and all her fucking leather jackets. Why do 30 yo, white cis men think girls exist in a binary? They could keep her earlier characterization and make her a hothead.. Bloom literally screamed herself into a couple power upgrades in the original come ooonnnn

Let girls be feminine without it being a character flaw what is wrong with yol its 2021. They could make her more mature, more angsty or whatever the hell else and not style her like that

The way Aisha's abilities flipflop between episodes and scenes. Very inconsistent. One minute she's struggling with a drop of water and the next she is moving an entire body of water for her bestie Bloom to fake transform because the plot demands it. Why even add in her struggles at all if you're just going to ignore it?

Why was Stella with them in that scene? She didn't do anything literally.. Aisha pulled the water and she did .. nothing.

Who the fuck is Rosalind? Why would they add her in,, to add nothing to story? The company of light was a thing, they could've plucked one of them hoes to be the antagonist. Why did the winx club need their own Delores Umbridge? Valtor was right there if you wanted an evil educator type character.

The camera work was so bland during the down beats, stagnant and fixed during a fairy party and erratic and ugly and disorienting during the fight scenes

I'm not getting over the fairy party because it was a good opportunity for the production and everyone else to show the differences between where Bloom was and where she is now but instead it just looks like a regular teen high school party?? This could have been set in Switzerland fr.

Everyone's just kind of standing?? You mean to tell me these people are from all different places in the magical dimension and their customs are all the same? They all throw parties like this ??

White and flavorless I am very bored

I guess the main question or takeaway I have is just.. who is this for? Because everyone, including the showrunners keep saying that it's for us, the fans of the original. But apart from the characters sharing some names, there are really no other similarities. So again, who was this supposed to appease or placate or satisfy? Because it sure as hell wasn't the winx club fans.

Overall, this feels very much like something I wrote and probably published on ff.net when I was 13 because I thought girls couldn't be taken seriously if they liked pink, and injected angst into everything that didn't need it and had no idea how to structure scenes or dialogue. It's just bad, objectively and N*tflix will keep making shit like this because apparently some people have bad taste??? Idk yol, be easy

[techni-kolor]

Strep, Surprise, and Spiced Tea

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27771862 !!!

"Oh, and I brought your tea for you, it's the same blend you liked last week. The one with the cinnamon, and the orange peel, and the little bits of cardamom."

Martin smiled awkwardly, placing the cup down on the desk with a soft click.

"I know you enjoyed this one so I, well, I made sure to get another box of it, just so that we'd have it."

Jon stared up at him, and then at the faintly steaming cup of tea

The cup of tea that was his absolute favorite blend, one that was hot and spicy and amazing, and that at any other time would have been delicious, had his throat not been absolutely burning. The ache that had been lingering there for days solidifying overnight from a bit of a cold that he could easily hide behind a few half stifled coughs and the dryness of the stale air in the archives, to a near firey pain that raced down from his jaw to his chest with each swallow.

"Yes, erm, thank you, Martin." He said as clearly as he possibly could, despite the way that the words seared up his throat. "I'll– I'll definitely try it– try it later."

Martin's face shifted to an anxious expression.

"Is it still a bit too hot right now? I tried seeping it in just a bit of a higher temperature than usual, but I wasn't sure if it would be too warm or not."

Jon froze, as much as the feverish tremors would allow.

"No, no. It looks, er, okay."

Martin's face creased further in a way that looked nervous, and just on the wrong side of apprehensive.

"Is there something– something else wrong with it then?" He asked, sounding almost jittery with anxiety.

Jon mentally cursed himself, and his own lack of foresight. Had he simply said that it was too hot for immediate drinking, he could have left it to cool on the desk under the guise of the heat, and then discreetly disposed of it later when he felt less as if he were swallowing glass shards. Now, Martin was staring nervously at him, wringing his hands, and fidgeting in front of the desk in clear apprehension.

"No, no. It's–" He broke off, not just due to the sharp ache at speaking, but also that he didn't have an excuse that didn't involve the phrase 'I've caught a cold'.

Martin's pale blue gaze almost bored into him with the anxious question reflected in his eyes.

"It looks– good." Jon said awkwardly, and in a movement he knew he was about to regret, raised the steaming cup to his lips and drew in a sip of the tea.

It absolutely burned, the heat of it searing a path down his inflamed throat, and stinging immensely as the flavors of the herbs touched the swelling and the red, raw patches that he knew were lining the inside of his mouth.

Involuntarily, he let out a pained cry, muffling it behind tightly shut lips as soon as he could, but still obviously just a beat too late, as Martin's face went from nervous to absolutely panicked.

"Jon! Are you– are you okay?"

Jon swallowed again, the sting of it near bringing tears to his eyes, and an absolutely vicious shiver racing through his body.

"I'm– I'm fine." He choked out, the raspy, scraping tone to his voice that he had gone to great pains to hide slipping through to hang awkwardly in the air.

"Was it– was it the tea?" Martin asked, looking still almost ready to bolt with his blue eyes near comically wide, and his lips parted in a stuttery gap.

"No– no." Jon managed to say, still blinking back the absolutely horrid combination of feverish shivering, and the pain in his infected throat. "Wasn't– it's not that."

Martin looked only faintly less panicked but a curious, and almost probing look, formed across his face.

"What was that then, Jon? Because it looked– well, it looked pretty painful."

For the second time, Jon froze.

"It– er, was just– just."

Martin's brows creased at the stammering.

"Did you hurt yourself somehow?" He asked, adding in a softer, more perplexed tone. "Not sure how you'd injure your mouth though."

Jon flashed through a multitude of lies, each one less credible than the next. That he'd recorded too many statements that morning and it had wrecked his throat, that he had cut his tongue on a crunchy biscuit, that he'd been hungover and that the acid from the vomiting had given him a sore throat.

"I– I have a cold." He finally muttered.

"You have a cold?" Martin repeated, his voice sounding both still slightly confused, as well as edging into the territory of concern.

"Yes, I've– I've been a bit under the weather."

"And your throat– it hurts bad enough that you can't even drink anything?"

"Well I can still drink some things." Jon corrected. "Just not anything too hot– or spicy, or well, too much at once, or really anything that has too much sugar."

The last traces of confusion flickered away from Martin's face, but was instead replaced by an abundance of concern.

"How long has it been that bad, Jon?" He asked, the edges of his lips down turning into a frown.

"Not since today, it– it's felt sore for a while. But it wasn't this bad until this morning."

The words didn't cause the concern to fade from Martin's expression as Jon had hoped, instead it ratched up to a level that had Jon squirming faintly in his desk chair. Feeling, for once, almost pinned under Martin's gaze and the surprisingly intense sheen of worry emanating from his blue eyes.

"How long have you been sick?"

"It's only been– well, erm, it's been a few days."

Martin's frown deepened.

"And how bad is the pain– in your throat I mean?"

"It– hurts." Jon muttered, aware that the answer was in no way informative.

"Jon, this is important, how bad is it?"

"Excruciating. It's– it burns."

"Do you know if you have a fever at all? Or have you felt sick in any other ways?"

"I've felt–" Jon mumbled. "I definitely am– well, I do have a fever. I believe it was near 38.5 degrees last night, and I've been a bit sick to my stomach."

"Jon," Martin's voice was far more intense than Jon typically heard it, not wavering in his usual anxious way or trembling. "Can I look into your mouth? It sounds like– well like you might be a bit more ill than just a cold."

Jon fidgeted awkwardly at the prospect of Martin of all people staring into his mouth, the idea feeling uncomfortable and far too invasive. But the sharp, stinging ache all down his throat was rapidly reaching a point that was near intolerable.

"Alright." He mumbled.

"Alright to check your throat?" Martin asked, still frowning.

"Yes, it's– yes."

Martin nodded, and took a careful step forward, sliding the cup, that damn cup of tea that had started all of this mess, over to the side.

Gently, he placed his hands on either side of Jon's jaw, the touch feeling uncomfortably freezing against his burning skin.

Martin frowned deeper as well as his fingertips touched the heat, but said nothing, instead gently probing at the sides of Jon's throat before lightly tapping on his jaw in a signal to open his mouth.

Jon squirmed a bit, but still pried open his jaw in a stiff, painful motion.

Martin instantly made a soft, almost hissing sound, carefully tilting his head up further towards the office's lights.

"Jon," He said softly. "That– that's pretty bad. It looks like it could be strep, especially with how sick you've been."

"What?" Jon said stupidly as soon as Martin's hands left his face. "It can't be, I'm an adult, and– and it's seemed like just a cold, just with a, well a horrible sore throat."

Martin's frown turned almost sad.

"Jon, adults still get strep, especially if their immune system isn't fully working."

"But– I never, I hadn't had it in grade school. How do you even know?"

Martin winced a bit. "Well, you've got– it's– it's pretty swollen. And those whitish patches don't really tend to happen unless you've got an infection, and it looks just like strep."

Jon sat back in the chair, slumping a bit from the absolute shock of not only getting into far too close quarters with one of his assistants, but also the idea that he could have a nasty, childhood illness.

Added to the already feverish exhaustion, and the absolutely vicious chills, he was almost tempted to simply remain rooted in the chair until he felt better, or until the archives closed for the night, which was only in about seven hours since he'd already been there far earlier than the opening.

"Jon?" Martin asked softly.

"Yeah, er– yes." Jon mumbled, glancing back up to Martin's still concerned face.

"Are you okay? Well, beyond the– well, strep."

"I'm fine, Martin."

The mixture of illness and exhaustion, and truthfully everything was just a lot.

Far too much really, and he was seriously considering the plan of remaining rooted in the desk chair for the rest of eternity, not just the rest of the work day.

"You–" Martin said haltingly. "You're going to need antibiotics. If it really is strep, it's only going to get worse and there could be complications."

Jon let out a breath, hissing at the searing pain of his throat as the air crossed the swelling. And the pus, if Martin's assessment had been accurate, however disgusting the thought might be.

"Yes, well, I'll go to a clinic this weekend."

Martin looked apprehensive again. "It's– it's not exactly good to wait that long, Jon. You really should go today, before it gets worse."

Jon felt the tug of resistance rise up at the idea of being instructed by Martin of all people, and the very idea of leaving work far before business hours were finished, but again, for what felt as if it were the hundredth time that day, the searing ache in his throat and the weight of his own exhaustion laid heavier than his pride.

"Alright, I'll go to the clinic."

"Now?" Martin asked, looking almost relieved in a way that was annoyingly sincere.

"After lunch. I need to be at least a bit productive today."

A look of disapproval crossed Martin's features, but he nodded softly.

"Alright." He said, fidgeting slightly in the odd space behind the desk. "I'll just take this, then?"

He gestured to the still faintly steaming cup of tea, "It's– well it's not exactly going to be useful now."

Jon huffed out something that would have been a chuckle if not for his swollen throat. "Yes, well, likely not."

Martin smiled awkwardly.

"I'll just take it back to the break room then, and check back– well I mean, I can come back later, before you go to the clinic?"

Jon frowned at the reminder of his plan of exiting the workday early. "Yes that's– it would be fine."

Martin nodded. "Alright then."

He turned towards the door, the mug held cradled in his hands still steaming with just the tiniest wisps of fogginess.

"Oh, and Jon?" He asked.

Jon glanced up from where he had been staring back at the statement, trying to make sense of it through the haze of discomfort still surrounding him. "Yes?"

"What are you going to tell Tim and Sasha?"

Jon groaned.

[astrologysvt]

I'd like to ask a question if it's alright…Are Capricorns really boring and no fun like most of the people said? I'm a Capricorn and it takes me a long time, like at least more than a year, to find people who I consider as friends in the same group of people, and I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that I'm a Capricorn, for being not as fun and easygoing as others. Would you kindly give me some advice about changing?

tbh i think capricorns are some of the funniest people out there! so i def wouldn’t say that they’re boring! i think the biggest thing i associate with capricorn/saturn influences is time. there is a method and a lot of consideration that goes into how you guys go about and process things and so i really wouldn’t get down on yourself for feeling like maybe it takes a bit of time to get close to people. i’ve spoken to a lot of capricorns who have felt similarly and at the end of the day (and this was at least in their case idk about yours) the reason they were slow to finding their people is that they simply don’t connect with others in that way or at that pace. which i think is fine! i’ve noticed they need not only time to warm up to people, but they need to know more about them, and they need concrete indicators that there is a fondness/trust there at least in terms of friendship before they can feel comfortable hunkering down and being like “yes my friend.” and honestly it’s hard for caps to feel fully comfortable in trusting and feeling dependent or vulnerable around people unless there is a great deal of confidence and proof that those people can be trusted in such a way -- and so i think that can sometimes create a barrier for caps in this whole process of warming up to people. 

honestly i can talk a lot about this cuz i’m surrounded by cap energy 😂 but really i don’t think you should get down on yourself, and if i had to offer any advice it’s listen to your comfort levels and trust your process. tbh i think once you understand your comfort levels, what it is that you actually value in a relationship, and what you need to be happy in friendship — the only thing you gotta do from there is keep an open mind and let yourself be open when you see an opportunity arise to make a connection with someone. i think there is an emphasis on control in caps to the point that you may end up over-restricting and ultimately restricting yourself, your own happiness, and your own good traits. So if you understand the bare minimum of what makes you comfortable, then you can gradually start to loosen your grip on everything else while still maintaining that integrity and control (if that is something you’ve noticed with yourself at least. you may not have and thats okay, not all cap experiences are the same). not only that, but i think caps can stand to be far more forgiving towards themselves as a whole. don’t feel like you need to rush yourself or do things how others would do them, or really even compare yourself to others in the first place. the more you understand why and how you do things, the more clear the person you are becomes and that’ll naturally attract those who appreciate those things. it’s not always an easy or linear process like i feel everyone who says “just be yourself” makes it sound, but i think at the end of the day that kind of mentality will lead to more long term satisfaction with the company you keep. also allows you to feel justified and comfortable in looking at situations and just being like “this aint me.” OR THE OPPOSITE and seeing someone and have that person speak to you and feeling ultimately confident that this is someone you wanna reach out to no matter how it turns out. and every time you do that, that reinforces to you those values if that makes sense. 

tbh idk if this even addresses your concern, and i’m afraid it sounds super vague and NOT HELPFUL AT ALL 😂 but thats kinda the nature of astrology in feeling your way around energies/interpretations until something resonates. but i’m here if you wanna start a dialogue! i think for me i never really try and attribute any kind of situation like this to “i’m a capricorn and that is why this is happening” because i don’t think there is anything wrong with embracing your natural demeanor and intrinsic nature. i think any action or product of that inherent nature is not something to brush aside or devalue because thats how we understand ourselves and thats how we learn. astrology taught me that we are all inherently different, we all see the world differently, and we accept energies differently. this is all okay. we just gotta figure out how to take that intrinsic nature and actualize it to it’s best/happiest form whatever that may be for the individual. i think it’s good to be critical of ourselves to a degree cuz thats again how we learn and grow, but at least from your message i don’t think there’s anything you need to inherently change unless you find you’re not happy or maybe you’ve been having disagreements/conflicts with others too often. i think there should always be a mind to grow and challenge yourself, but i don’t think you should ever go against your nature if that makes sense. eheheh sorry that got cheesy 😂

[batteredwarriorstillstanding]

Whoa, whoa, whoa....let's interrupt programming with a necessary reality check, and side of tough love. You resisted communicating with me, and this absolutely had major consequences where I was concerned--since, for reasons only partially clear, it is, in fact, of major importance to do all I can to add you to my life....again, if this is never in the form of romantic involvement (and, more and more, that seems to make, by a fucking mile, the most sense) that is, perhaps, not precisely in-line with early expectations, but wonderful, nonetheless. The main, and certainly chief intended result of you cutting me off at all points within speaking distance of you has had others, also. For example, you will not believe how full of errors, including some major ones, your beliefs concerning anything and everything associated with me tend to be....this cloud of misunderstanding, already an impediment to current communication is also a frequent agitator of some less-than-desirable traits thatcI possess. So, because, I suspect the mistaken viewpoint's very nature is always bound to be impacted by friends and family not on board with us in any manifestation (though only a small portion of what I suspect has actually been demonstrated) it's safe to observe that negativity has been used as a tool, incorrectly, toward this end. This can elicit frustration and anger and it, sadly, has not exactly been a solar-eclipse-level rarity for me to become so distraught by the seeming injustice of it all that I begin acting every bit the abusive, exploitative significant other-in -waiting, who simply cannot contain his excitement at the prospect of misusing each of your considerable attributes for my own benefit, all the while, gaslighting you into a broken shambles so precisely that it isn't ling before your destroyer os, in your eyes, your onmy saving grace. In truth, I have never been abusive toward anyone in anything that resembled this exampke at all, and, as far as you are concerned, while I can definitely return your hardest serve....or even aim right for you, once in a while, when I become angry enough, I actually value you deeply, and this has never changed. Not being afforded an opportunity on a multitude of fronts that are, seemingly, nothing more than products of people talking from their asses, and woukd quickly be shown as such...

Don't get me wrong, it ain't "someone else" who is responsible for your closeting from me, it's you ...but, they certainly helped...and had no qualms about doing so dishonestly. Ao, for the 15th time in a few months, I am sorry for being a dick to you....if ever you were forced to navigate the described impossibility of a "boundary" or an "obstacle provided by the universe" or whatever the fuck else, when, actually, it had all become a fool's errand, and you could feel the heartbreak i did upon realization if this disturbing suspicion, you would understand that I still, if course, love you. I am no help to anyone, though, if I fail to survive, myself. Oh yeah, 1 or 2 days ago, someone sent me an "I'm gonna be your fem domme" welcome letter....hilariius...if that was you. Pretty sure you'd end up dead...dominating the funeral home. But, nice sentiment. Just jok I ng, of course. Due to extenuating circumstances, I have taken the liberty of expanding normal boundaries of good taste in posting from their typical levels to.....whatever I want. But, don't mistake this for genuine ill will.

[topicprinter]

Hey /r/Entrepreneur, I’m Denver, aka /u/LoomaHome!I’ve lurked here for a very long time, and being a follower of this subreddit + /r/MaleLivingSpace has been a big part of starting my business, so I’m excited to share.Along with my business partner, Ishaan, I’m a co-founder at Looma, makers of expertly curated and ethically-sourced bedding sets (and more decor stuff soon). We’ve been working on the business for almost a year now and we just launched yesterday!We’ve been on two quests: building a modular ecosystem of bedding and home decor products that fit seamlessly together and figuring out how to sell the softest possible organic, and fair-trade products for half the price of everyone else, and we think we nailed it.One of my favorite things are “How I did it” posts, getting an insider perspective on how Redditors have built their businesses, usually in industries I don’t know anything about. Since /r/Entrepreneur has helped me during this journey, I’d like to lay out my “Mental Framework” for how I approached business, in hopes that it could give someone out there a starting point for chasing their big idea too.But first, a little context, so you know how I got started. Backstory[TL;DR below]After graduating from college, I bounced around between the East and West coasts for different jobs. With every move, I’d go through my stuff and ask, “Is this really worth taking with me?”Usually the answer was “no.” So, I was arriving in my new city with few belongings, which meant I had to start all over to furnish my space. I’d get a few cheap things, live in the new city for a while, take another job offer, move again, leave behind all the cheap stuff, repeat. I absolutely hated redecorating, because it was so hard to make each new place feel like home. First a bedframe and mattress, then sheets, an area rug, side table, desk, wall art, and so on. I was becoming Ikea/Target’s #1 customer. Browsing aisle by aisle had become an obligatory pastime, and I kept asking myself “Why is this such a painful process?” and “How can I find someone else to do this for me?”Around that same time of my bedroom/existential breakdown, I had a month and a half between my move and my job’s start date, so I visited my one of my best friends from college, Ishaan, who’s from India. I had planned on spending a week with Ishaan then tour around to see all of the big sites (obligatory Taj Mahal pic). But instead of touring the country, I was mostly fascinated by Ishaan’s family business. He had gone back after college to run the textile mill his grandfather’s grandfather had started in the 1800s. Coming from a world of corporate offices and Excel spreadsheets, I was fascinated by the processes, the people, and the business behind textiles. Watching raw materials go in one side and finished products come out the other was incredibly satisfying.Back in the US, I was still thinking about that mill, while sitting in my studio apartment filled with hodge-podge decor that never quite right. Like Steve Jobs’ once said in one of my favorite speeches ever, the dots only connect when you’re looking backward. It hit me: What if Ishaan and I started a business that provided modular decor? You pick a theme you like, and then simply buy everything, from sheets to rugs and small decorations, that’s been curated for you in that same theme?Given that Ishaan could manage the raw materials & production aspects, and that bedding is one of the easiest and fastest ways to change the look of an entire room, I figured that bedding would be the logical first step, and then we could expand our offerings from there. I pitched my plan to Ishaan, he was onboard, and Looma was born!TL;DR version: Recent college grad got tired of figuring out how to redecorate every time he moved for a new job. Goes to visit friend in India while between jobs. Finds out friend’s family is in textiles, becomes fascinated by the business. Goes back to the States and starts a company with friend, to help people easily decorate their spaces with curated looks, and figures bedding is a good place to start. Looma begins! Analyzing the MarketWe had a vision for the customer pain point we wanted to solve, but we still needed to figure out exactly where we would fit into the broader market, and how things operate today. We broke down our market research into 3 buckets: supply chain, distribution, and consumer behavior.If you’re wondering where to find this type of info a great start is a google search of: “industry primer”First a size check: We knew the market was big, but not this big. In the US alone, home textiles (bedding, rugs & bath) is a $15 billion market annually.Supply Chain: Despite online & direct to consumer models starting to pop up, we found the vast majority of volume of the global home textile market is via outsourced manufacturing and brand licensing agreements. Much like Luxxotica owns 90% of the eyewear market, the same 4/5 manufacturers own 90% of the brands you’ve bought bedding from. It works like this: Manufacturer A pays Brand X, Y and Z to sell sheets with the Brand X, Y or Z labels on it. Brands love it because its free money for zero effort, but the problem for consumers is that most manufacturers are more concerned with volume than quality, with the overall effect being a reduction in competition – causing prices to steadily rise while quality doesn’t.So I can assure you, Tommy Hilfiger didn’t actually design any beds, someone at Indocount or Himatsingka did.Distribution: The distribution split in home goods is around 75% in-store 25% online, with the online portion growing extremely rapidly (less than 20% of sales 3 years ago). In-store distribution is split between big box brands who wholesale other brand’s products (Target, Bed Bath & Beyond) and specialty retail (West Elm, Crate & Barrel, etc.) who primarily sell their own brand. Online is split between Amazon and independent e-commerce (Brooklinen, Parachute, et al.).Consumer Behavior: Consumers repurchase rates are moderate tending to replace sheets every 18-24 months. There were fewer resources that specifically catalogued consumer behavior when it came specifically to bedding, so we used SurveyMonkey & Google Surveys to gather our own data. Based on our survey work we found that consumers brand recall & brand loyalty is extremely low. The surveys also showed that the future of online sales was bright with over 55% of customers considering purchasing bedding online for their next buying cycle.Our major takeaways from the research were:· The overall market is massive· The supply chain is dominated by incumbents with no incentive to improve quality· Online is the minority today but explodingEach finding pointed to the huge growth prospects for digital-first brands. Despite how overhyped “Millennials are killing [x]” headlines are, new buying habits (online) paired with general distain for the current players means a huge opportunity to cater to consumers in a new way.We want to create a brand that delights consumers, creates loyalty, and will become the no brainer go-to when buying anything for a bedroom. To do that, we know we have to do things that others aren’t. The Business BlueprintPutting the pieces together, we centered everything around one question: how do we delight the new breed of digital-first customers?Product: How do we delight customers with our product?The first step was to think of product as not just the physical goods, but the buying experience too. As I thought about my own hatred for decorating, it really boiled down to not knowing how to put pieces together in a cohesive way. We wanted to bring the same curation & ease-of-purchase focus that is so popular in Apparel (“shop this look”), to home goods. Today, whether it’s online or in-store, most bedding is sold piece by piece in separate sheet sets, duvet covers, comforters, blankets, throws, pillows etc. So we created a product line is focused on bundling and pre-curated bedroom “recipes” that are guaranteed to look good together. By making our product both the physical item and the more streamlined path to purchasing it, we're hoping to set ourselves apart from the average buying experience.Price & Quality: How can we delight customers with high quality materials and a mass market price?The vast majority of people we surveyed were “meh” on their bedding, except the group in the luxury segment. The luxury consumers totally reversed the trend with strong brand recall and loyalty. The takeaway: quality benefits exist, but you have to really spend to get it.So the question was: how to bring luxury bedding quality & loyalty at a price point that the other 98% of the market can afford? Brands like Parachute and Boll & Branch successfully brought Frette quality ($1,200+ sets) to the $450-650 price range by going direct to consumer and cutting out the retail/wholesale markups, but to bring that quality to the $250-$350 price point would require far more than changing sales channels from offline to online.This happens to be our secret sauce. Back to the origin story, Ishaan & his family have been in Textiles for over 100 years. I came to him to ask if it was possible to bring that $1,000 sheets quality to the mass market. The answer was no. Not if we went to the outsourced manufacturers like in-store brands and the other direct to consumer brands like Parachute. The only possible way would be to deal with the farmers growing the ultra-lux organic cotton directly rather than buying from regional or national cotton traders (not an easy task, most organic cotton is grown on small independent farms, so we’d have to reach out to a number of them individually), then we’d have to bring most of the major finishing processes in-house (like spinning the cotton yarn, weaving it, and cutting & sewing it). People outsource for a reason: it’s much easier. But with every outsourced process comes another markup, and we couldn’t afford that.So we followed the plan. We’re bringing the absolute highest quality GOTS Organic, Fair-Trade Certified linens to the market at a price that is literally unbeatable. Check out a quick comparison chart. Our complete foundation set (sheet set + duvet cover) is just $279. Compare that to Parachute at $550 (Organic but not Fair Trade), and Brooklinen at $249 (Not Organic, Not Fair Trade, Value Quality at Premium Price).ChannelWhere to sell? Amazon, wholesale, our own website? Where can we best meet our customer to give them a delightful experience?Right off the bat Wholesale wouldn’t work for us. Typically when brands sell wholesale they have to take a 40-60% cut on their regular retail price. So that effectively means brands that wholesale spend less than 30% of the retail price of the product on the actual materials & construction.Amazon has a ton of benefits, primarily built-in foot traffic. It’s a marketplace with high intent customers that are already searching for bedding and probably already have their payment information saved. On top of that, if you use Fulfilled By Amazon, they take the headache out of shipping. That’s super compelling. On the downside, Amazon takes a fat commission on sales, limits customization of the listing page, knows your exact sales data & popularity (Hello new Amazon Brand in your category), and generally owns the user experience throughout the purchase. In the end it’s something we’re going to continue to consider, but not right for us at this point.So we settled on selling via our own e-commerce website. Pros for us were the ability to customize the user experience with things like style quiz flows, owning all of our user data, and most importantly no marketplace commissions on our sales, but the cost was high, and not for everyone. When choosing independent e-com you have to balance with knowing it’s very expensive to bring traffic to your site, there’s a big upfront cost to developing a scale-ready website, and other headaches like integrating your sales systems with logistics systems. Sourcing & Other ResourcesIn Looma’s case, we haven’t had to search for manufacturing partners the same way most new companies do, but after working with manufacturers for non-core pieces of the business (like packaging) here are my thoughts on sources & best practices for reaching out:Alibaba: There are entire guides for this, but 1) always check how long each supplier has been in business + what their revenue last year was. If it’s less than 2 years old and/or their revenue is under $1 million, that can be a red flag that they’re not a reliable supplier, or too new to know their reputation. There are probably 10 other options in the same category with a more reliable background, reach out to them. 2) Reach out to at least 5 suppliers with your list of requirements for any product you’re looking for – even if you see a listing that looks perfect. A lot can be learned from the speed and level of professionalism in responses. After you narrow down to a few attentive suppliers don’t be afraid to push back on Price or Minimum Order Quantities. These responses are valuable too for determining who might be a good long term partner, not just supplier.IndiaMART: The Alibaba of India. Unfortunately they are much less organized and don’t have an internal chat feature like Alibaba. Be prepared to receive 10s of calls from suppliers if you give them your number. One big upside is that it can be a great place to source if you put in the effort, and a lot of the time I’ve found suppliers on IndiaMart are more willing to lower MOQs for new accounts.PortExaminer.com: While this isn’t a source supplier, you still shouldn’t overlook this resource. This is a bit of an insider secret, but import records into the United States are public record. That means you can look up your competitors and figure out exactly who they’re buying from!Sometimes you can’t find the exact records you’re searching for, but if you can, you can contact the same source suppliers your competitors are using, and ask for quotes for products that are similar to your competitor’s. Once you have a quote, you know how much your competitor is spending to manufacture their product, and you can figure out if you’re able to beat that price, and with higher quality.PackagingThere are two ways to go here. US companies like BoxUp.com, Packlane.com or Lumi.com tend to be expensive, or you could test the waters of direct from China packaging on Alibaba. For the seasoned expert, Alibaba makes sense, but if you’re just getting started, I 100% recommend a more expensive US option who will ensure quality.LogisticsGreat! Now your product is in a cool box, ready to be delivered by...someone. By far, my favorite freight forwarder is Flexport. Hands down the easiest, most intuitive, and modern freight forwarding service out there; I highly recommend them.PlatformFor our eCommerce we decided to use Shopify. They had the lowest barriers to entry and offered acceptable levels of customization.For our inventory management, we chose Ordoro. Shoutout to /u/gdpics from Ordoro for the great customer service! Final ThoughtsWhatever your plans and budget are, know that it will take 3x as long and cost 10x as much. Figure out your costs and estimate your schedule, and then pump it up. Give yourself plenty of buffer, because you will hit unexpected costs and scheduling holdups, and if you’re not prepared, it’ll knock you flat.Have a strong list of advisors and try to get as big and diverse of a roster as you can. I cold emailed so many people I considered to be my “Dream Experts,” but I also reached out to some people who I knew excelled at the lower-level functioning stuff, too.I wrote my emails to these people like, “This is what I’m up to, and this is why I’d love to have your expertise on this.” I was honestly shocked at how many people responded to me, and I now have an incredible board of advisors I can contact about different concerns and questions: Zander Lurie (CEO of Surveymonkey), Kory Stevens (CEO of Taft /u/therealtaftclothing), Brian Magida (Performance Marketing at Warby Parker), and a ton of others. Find those people, show them that you’re serious and know what you’re talking about, and you might be surprised how many of them are willing to help you, if you’re respectful of their time.Founding a company is a mental health game, and you need to take that seriously. Even though I’m technically a co-founder with one of my best friends, he’s on the other side of the world handling logistics over there, so sometimes it can feel like I’m a solo founder. Find someone — preferably a friend who isn’t involved in your business — who is willing to be a listening ear and sympathizer for those moments when you’re overwhelmed.Finally, once you’re at an acceptable level, just launch. You could go bankrupt trying to make everything absolutely perfect. There are still some things about Looma I want to tweak and change, but really, it’s ready for the next phase, so we’re pulling the lever and we’re rolling! /r/Entrepreneur, thanks for listening, and I really hope this was interesting for you guys. Thanks for being such a great community, and please, if there’s anything in this overview that you’d like more specific info on, ask! As for Looma, we launched yesterday on Kickstarter, and we we're already 75% funded!! Go grab an earlybird discount while the stock lasts!